Face Hugger
Name A Face Hugger is a xenomorph. In the Xenomorph's development phases a xenomorph would start it's development first as a Face Hugger then through to a Chest Burster before continuing to an Alien. Face Huggers emerge from Alien Eggs layed by a Queen, they are about 92 cms long and 52 cms wide. These Alien Eggs require a temperate environment and so are produced in a Queens' Lair, once produced are cared for by drone xenomorphs. The Alien Eggs from which Face Huggers emerge are sensitive to vibrations and can detect if a suitable host is near, this will cause the Face Hugger to be active and would emerge and jump as soon as a host nears. Characteristics Reference stats table. Appearance Appearances in the following; [[BG386|'BG386']] Aliens v Predator 3 Survivor Hive Colony Refinery Ruins Jungle Research Lab Pyramid [[LV426|'LV426']] Alien vs. Predator: Arcade Aliens Extermination Aliens: Arcade Aliens: Colonial Marines Aliens (film) Alien Trilogy [[Fiorina 'Fury' 161|'Fiorina 'Fury' 161']] Alien 3: The Gun Aliens 3 (film) Alien 3 (MD) Alien 3 (SNES) Alien 3 (Game Boy) Alien 3 (NES) [[Earth|'Earth']] Alien v Predator 3D Aliens v Predator: Requiem Alien v Predator (film) Aliens v Predator: Requiem (film) Aliens Armageddon [[LV1201|'LV1201']] Aliens v Predator 2 [[USM Auriga|'USM Auriga']] Alien Resurrection Alien Resurrection (film) [[Nostromo|'Nostromo']] Alien (film) [[:Category:video games|'Various']] Alien Trilogy Aliens: Infestation Alien Breed Alien v Predator (Mugen) [[LV412|'LV412']] AVP: Evolution Features Acid for blood, eight legs and makes a chriping sound. Interactions [[LV426|'LV426']] A Face Hugger attacked Kane in Alien (film) from an Alien Egg in the Derelict's Egg Chamber on LV426. As Kane triggered the sensors of the chamber as he descended the face huggers became active and as he neared one it opened revealing the interior, moments later a face hugger emerged and attached itself on Kane's helmet and then to his face as it penetrated the screen of the spacesuit's helmet. In the film Aliens a Face Hugger attacked Newt's father as he entered the Derelict looking for salvage, then later two captive face huggers from Cryo-Stasis Tubes attack Ellen Ripley and Newt in Medical at Hadley's Hope on LV426 as they rested for the night. [[Fiorina 'Fury' 161|'Fiorina 'Fury' 161']] A Face Hugger attacked a pet dog/oxo in Aliens 3 (film) from an Alien Egg from one of the USS Sulaco's EEV's which landed on Fiorina 'Fury' 161, having already attacked Ripley as she was in stasis. [[USM Auriga|'USM Auriga']] Face Huggers are allowed to attack humans miners brought aboard the USM Auriga in stasis in Alien Resurrection (film). The face huggers produced were then allowed to develop into adults which were held in chambers for study. [[Earth|'Earth']] Several Face Huggers attacked Weyland Personnel in Alien v Predator (film) from Alien Eggs in the Pyramid's Sacrificial Chamber near Antarctica, Earth. These then developed into adult Aliens and attacked both humans and Predators before all dying as the structure collapsed around then. Several Face Huggers attacked Predators and humans in Aliens v Predator: Requiem (film) from Cryo-Stasis Tubes aboard the Predator Spacecraft which landed on Earth. These then attacked a son and father hunting in the forest before further face huggers were produced in a hospital, laid by a Predalien. Continuity Aliens v Predator 2 In Aliens v Predator 2 a Face Hugger is a playable character in the first two levels in singleplayer and the first level in Aliens v Predator 2: Primal Hunt. AVP: Evolution A player would start in their campaign as a Face Hugger before emerging as a Chest Burster and then quickly evolving into a Drone. Face Huggers are also able to be called by an Alien player but with only a few being called per game, they also appear as an enemy against Predators in their missions. Various Dan O'Bannon decided to design the facehugger prop himself. The technical elements of the musculature and bone were added by Ron Cobb. Giger's initial design for the smaller facehugger the first creature Giger designed for the film Alien, had the fingers facing forward, but O'Bannon's redesign shifted the legs to the side. When the foam rubber sculpture of the facehugger was produced, O'Bannon asked that it should remain unpainted, believing the rubber, which resembled human skin, was more plausible. In Alien 3, another addition, a "super-facehugger" that would carry the embryo of the queen Alien, was planned but ultimately dropped. The super-facehugger is briefly glimpsed in the Assembly cut of Alien 3, but not identified as such. The queen face hugger appears in the arcade games Alien 3: The Gun and Aliens Armageddon and the game Alien v Predator (Mugen) as a playable character. Although large face huggers appear in other games they are not directly called 'queen face huggers'. Originating from the assembly cut of the film Alien 3, the queen face hugger was much larger than depicted in Alien and Aliens, possessing webbed digits and the capability of impregnating multiple hosts. Films [[wikipedia:Alien_(film)|'Alien (film)']] Concept The facehugger itself was the first creature that Giger designed for the film, going through several versions in different sizes before deciding on a small creature with humanlike fingers and a long tail. Dan O'Bannon drew his own version based on Giger's design with help from Ron Cobb which became the final version. Cobb came up with the idea that the creature could have a powerful acid for blood, a characteristic that would carry over to the adult Alien and would make it impossible for the crew to kill it by conventional means, such as guns or explosives since the acid would burn through the ship's hull. Carlo Rambaldi who worked on the Alien's jaw and inner mouth added his designs and modifications to the alien eggs and the face huggers. On-set The facehugger and its proboscis, which was made of a sheep's intestine, were shot out of the egg using high-pressure air hoses. The shot was acted out and filmed in reverse, then reversed and slowed down in editing to prolong the effect and show more detail. These were controlled by hydraulics and with added sound by James Shield and made mostly from the glass part of fiberglass with Ridley operating in a part made egg, Ian Frankman created a hydraulic powered face Hugger which would be in the scene as Kane looked in, because it was so fast they slowed the scene from 1 sec to 1.5 sec Production The Face Hugger was made from silicon by production crew on set, for the scene in which the dead facehugger is examined after it detached itself from Kane and found in the Med Lab, Scott used pieces of oysters, clams and caviar to create its viscera. Post Production The scene of Kane inspecting the egg was shot during post-production. A fiberglass egg was used so that actor John Hurt could shine his light on it and see movement inside, which was provided by Ridley Scott fluttering his hands inside the egg while wearing rubber gloves. The egg opened via hydraulics and the innards were made of a cow's stomach and tripe. Initial test shots of the eggs were filmed using hen's eggs and this footage was used in early teaser trailers. For this reason a hen's egg was used as the primary image for the film's advertising poster and became a lasting image for the series as a whole rather than the Alien egg that actually appears in the film. [[wikipedia:Aliens_(film)|'Aliens (film)']] On-set Multiple Face Huggers were produced for the scene in the Med Lab with Ripley and Newt so the face huggers could react in a number of ways, this would give them a character. These included two fully controlled face huggers operated by six or seven puppeteers with a running face hugger built by Rick Lasaneer which could be pulled on cables. Production The scene in the Med Lab involved three different hugger shots, the fully controlled face huggers which were set in different poses were inter cut in the scene with a running face hugger which in turn was cut with a face hugger which was put on a table leg and pulled back then filmed in reverse animating the effect of jumping, with the final shot of a face hugger jumping was produced just by pulling a face hugger attached on a wire towards Ripley. [[wikipedia:Alien_3|'Alien 3 (film)']] On-set The animatronic face hugger was built by crew on set from silicon, later a larger silicon face hugger was used in the Abattoir. Production A face hugger appeared on the EEV after it had been jettisoned and approached Fury 161, this face hugger attacked Ripley and later attacked a dog or an oxo in the assembly cut, later it died and was found by prison inmates also this scene appeared in the assembly cut inside the Abattoir. Although not mentioned in the script or on film in any addition, it had been assumed that the face hugger was a Queen as it impregnated a Queen embryo in Ripley. [[wikipedia:Alien_Resurrection|'Alien Resurrection (film)']] On-set Alec Gills and Tom Woodrow Jr. with their team at ADI created a collection of small scale sculptures for Jean-Pierre Jeunet (director) who decided which ones were to be produced into full scale. From the chosen models full scale silicon creatures and suits for Aliens were produced. Production Face Huggers were also made by ADI some from rubber while others were fully mechanical and operated by puppeteers air bladders would give the appearance of movement with hand puppets made with mechanical fingers used for filming as they emerged from inside eggs a technique that was used in the film Alien. Eggs had 25 different mechanical movements as apposed to the 4 used before with air bladders, cloths and sheets used in filming. [[wikipedia:Alien_vs._Predator_(film)|'Alien v Predator (film)']] On-set Part of filming included building full size sets which the sacrificial chamber was one of them. Eggs produced by the Alien Queen were then conveyed up to the chamber and appeared in an opening of the seven sacrificial alters. Production MPC VFX supervisor Adam Valdez was tasked with over 140 effects heavy shots that centered on the film's title characters, the alien warriors, predators, and Alien Queen. This involved using the full size Alien Queen which was only part built then using VFX to create her digitally including the Queen's ovipositor and Eggs. Once they appeared in the sacrificial chamber further VFX was used in the near shots, opening and subsequent Face Huggers emerging and attacking scenes. [[wikipedia:Aliens_vs._Predator:_Requiem|'Aliens v Predator: Requiem (film)']] CGI was used in the film for the Alien's tails and inner jaws, whereas they required puppeteers and wire removal on previous films. CGI was also used for the Face Huggers and Aliens in the initial sequences as the Aliens escape and cause the spacecraft to land near Gunnison. [[wikipedia:Prometheus (film)|'Prometheus (film)']] In an early script by Jon Spaihts called ALIEN: Engineers there featured a cargo full of alien eggs and face huggers which were both normal and white in colour including a Proto-Xenomorph (Ultra-Morph), this script was rewritten by Damon Lindelof which then featured the creatures Deacon, Trilobite and Hammerpede. The Trilobite featured a resemblance with the face hugger from the earlier films. Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report Face huggers appear in the book with the description of the facehugger from the film Alien and Aliens; Facehugger 'After delivery of the necrotropic embryo, the facehugger stay attached to the host until the implantation is secure; times appear to range between twenty minutes to sixteen hours. It is unknown how the facehugger receives it's signal to disengage from the host, although scant eveidence implies recombinant plasmid chemical pulse; it's semelparous purpose fulfilled, the facehugger then crawls away to die. The host often wakes shortly afterwards, and does not appear to be aware of the plantation. After effects noted include a sore throat and slight temperature. All recorded variations of the facehugger are capable of expelling acid. The creature encountered by the Nostromo melted through Kane's face shield in seconds to gain direct access to a suitable orifice; aboard the USS Sulaco a facehugger carrying a queen embryo similarly accessed Ellen Ripley's hypersleep chamber. Records from Hadley's Hope suggest that initial attempts to contain the facehuggers failed; resulting in several deaths; the LV-426 colonist finally enclosed specimens in an alkaloid nahcolite water bath, which apparently rendered the acid ineffective. Containers were made of WY Medgrade Tempurglass. SO (Science Office) Ash was the first to suggest Xenomorph XX121's blood is fluorine based. When the AP attempted to remove the facehugger from XO Kane, the organism spurted a highly caustic compound that subsequently ate through two full decks of the USCSS Nostromo. At Hadley's Hope, an undetermined number of colonist were burned or killed in attempts to remove implanting facehuggers. All stages of Xenomorphs XX121 exhibit this biology.' The facehugger Inside the egg, the pale spider-like "facehugger" is formed; it serves as a delivery system for the Xenomorph embryo in the complex process known as oviposition. Successful oviposition requires not only finding the right type of host but evading the host's natural defense mechanisms. The facehugger has eight tri-jointed digits and a long, prehensile tail; the ovipositor-a fleshy tube through which creature implants a host-is located anteriorly. Filtering sacs on either side of its body ensure environmental control over the host, once the facehugger is engaged. Pits along the dorsal posterior appear to function much like the veromonasal sensory organs employed by certain species of reptile; this is unconfirmed. The organism's purpose is singular-to impregnate-but to do so, the creature must attach to an appropriate host and keep the host viable long enough for the second-stage Xenomorph to develop. Aboard the Nostromo, Artificial Person-and Science Office-Ash noted that the facehugger that attacked Executive Officer Kane fed him an cyanose-based paralytic substance and chemically suppressed his immune system in order to implant the parasitoidic embryo. The creature also filtered the toxic atmosphere of LV-426 to provide oxygen to Kane. Ash believed that the organism was able to determine and mimic the host's atmospheric needs in order to keep him alive; however, there is no corroborating evidence, as Kane's implantation is the only recorded instance of a host being attained in a toxic environment. See also References Citations Alien Queen Alien/Predator (video games) AVP: Evolution Footnotes Category:Info Category:Aliens